Timeline: Major Indian rail accidents

A train derailment in which at least 50 people have died in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday is the latest in a series of train accidents in India.

29 Oct 2005 12:06 GMT

Overcrowding often leads to high casualties

The worst was in 1981 when a train plunged into a river in the eastern state of Bihar, killing more than 800 people.

The railways carry 13 million people daily on one of the world's largest train networks, covering 108,700km.

The following are some of the most serious train accidents in India over the past 20 years:

16 August 1984At least 100 die when a train falls into a river in the northern state of Madhya Pradesh.

23 February 1985Around 100 die when a train catches fire near Calcutta.

8 July 1988A train derails in the southern state of Kerala, claiming 105 lives.

16 April 1990A train catches fire near Patna, the capital of the eastern state of Bihar, leaving around 100 dead.

20 August 1995305 dead and 344 injured in a collision between two trains in Ferozabad, near the northern town of Agra.

14 September 1997At least 100 die and more than 200 are injured when five wagons fall into a river in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

26 November 1998At least 209 die in collision between two trains in Punjab.

2 August 1999285 are killed and 312 injured in collision between two trains in Gaisal in the eastern state of West Bengal.

2 December 200042 die and around 140 injured in a collision between a passenger train and a goods drain that derails in Sarai Banjara in Punjab.

23 June 2001At least 59 die and 241 injured when the Mangalore-Madras falls into a river in Kerala when a bridge breaks.

At least 50 people died in anaccident on 29 October 2005

10 September 2002130 people die when the Rajdhani Express linking Calcutta to New Delhi plunges into a river in Rafiganj in the eastern state of Bihar.

15 May 2003At least 38 die in a fire in an express train near Ludhiana in Punjab.

24 June 2003Fifty-one die in the derailment of a train in the western state of Maharastra. Authorities blame the accident on rocks and mud on the track after heavy rains.

18 August 2004At least 38 are killed and 55 injured in a collision near Kharagpur in west Bengal.

14 December 2004At least 38 die in a head-on collision 150km from the holy city of Amritsar in the northern state of Punjab.

3 February 2005Fifty-five people are killed in the central state of Maharashtra when a train collides with a tractor pulling a trailer that was crammed with people returning from a wedding.

21 April 2005At least 17 people are killed and 150 injured when an express train rams into a freight train in Vadodara district in the western state of Gujarat.

3 October 2005At least 18 people are killed and scores injured when a speeding passenger train derails and slams into a brick cabin at a railway station at Datiya in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

29 October 2005At least 50 people die and more are feared killed when a passenger train derails and topples into swirling floodwaters in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.